Hey peeps, I'm a female punk singer/vocalist still looking for members to create a band in need of a drummer/bass/guitarist. I had a reply last yr from someone looking at this site, turns out he was a bass player. So we practice and thought to ourself that this might be a piece of cake forming a band, turns out it wasn't and then things fell apart. Now ironically, hes filming other bands (not answering my calls) and I'm just stuck in the middle of nowhere. I was just wondering if any of yous had this experience b4? It taught me that reality hit me hard, when day dreaming lol. actually >.<.........(curses)

Remember , your dealing with people,who for the most part,use the right side of the brain to reason ...Many times Ive seen the perfect situation come together musically where everyones on the same page with theory knowledge,song list,etc, only to have it dissolve due to personality clashes, girl/boy freinds interfering, a whole host of reasons which are usually never disclosed in the beginning and sometimes never are ...Then , they'll be times where 1 or 2 arent cuttin it musically, but are an asset in every other way.Thats when its the hardest.
I see local messageboards where people are fighting becuase ,for what ever reason , an audition didnt work out...Sometimes problems dont arise till later,or the discovery of a more suitable situation comes a long and when nothing is said,like in your case, it leaves a person wondering what could have happened ...Dont let this get ya down , chances are it will happen again...All you can do is keep your chops up,keep increasing your theory knowledge and when the right people come along ,you'll be ready.
Its best to be honest ,even when it seemingly cuts your thoat at the time.You'll fair better in the long run.Ok , my rant is over

The first "band" I tried to play with refused to do anything other than play old Metallica covers. More annoyingly, they basically took turns playing and listening to each other rather than trying to assemble anything. I quickly bailed.

The next band was looking for a second guitarist and I tried out and made it. We played a few shows before it sort of disbanded. A couple of members were heading off to college, but I doubt I would have lasted anyway, since they were always complaining I was using too much distortion for what they were trying to do (I was). It was obvious I was about to get dumped.

I play with a group now that is a total mess. There is an ever-revolving door of guitarists and any attempt to put something together turns into a chaotic and directionless sludge that usually ends up in a cover of a Weezer or Green Day song. No one even tries to find a uniform sound. The drummer, who is the center around which the band revolves (he has the practice space) cannot decide what he wants to play at all. Every day he seems to want to go in a different direction.

I guess I know exactly how you feel.

I would like to do two projects. One is a slowcore/ambient project that I have basically decided to do myself, playing all the instruments. The second one would be for playing in public, that should be a lot more fun and social - sort of a Texas Blues meets barbeque rock kinda thing. I haven't found anyone for either project yet.

I've had more success with joining a band missing one member than forming a band from scratch. The other thing is the older you get the harder it is to find musicians your own age. A lot of people just give up. My advice would be keep things moving forward even without all the pieces in place. If you can get things done with out depending on other people then eventually you'll reach a point where they need you. Best of Luck. Metalvox

I've been playing for most of my life and can literally count on one hand when things really "Clicked" with those I am playing with.

First of all, I am a Christian who does not mind playing secular stuff but the mere mention of "CHRISTIAN" brings up feelings of hostility among more than a few musicians I come in contact with (Bet there are some "Bristling" just reading this! )

Gotta make sure you are in line musically and philosophically and that you are headed in the same direction!

I am in my 40s and wouldn't even consider joining a group where the members are primarily in their 20s and 30s

Even when everything else seems to be a fit, you still have the EGOS and other personality quirks to deal with!

building a band is easy, building a strong, powerful, synced, dedicated, happy band is very, very, very difficult. I've learned this by playing in detox. I've thought about quitting so many times due to flaky guitarists, no one really listening to anyone else's ideas, etc. etc. So far we have gone through 4 guitarists because either they had a problem with the sing, drummer, or my (bass) playing or attitude. One thing you have to remember it's not all about talent, but how well you all click. We played with a guitarist who didnt like our drummer's style and apparantly he was pissed at me because one day I told him "no man, that solo isn't going to work for that song". Well, he BS'ed stickin it out the whole time he was with us. After awinning the first round of a major international battle of the bands, he told us he wasnt feelinit and left.

So yeah, building a band is easly, building a working band is difficult. Just my input (like anyone reads these things haha)

Yep People can be strange.. Our Lead singer very talented. wants to sit at home and drink himself into a stupor. Scared stiff at getting out and playing live, New Venues send him in to willie land. wants to quit cause he does't think its something that's respectable. Man after 6 years of this I gotta go look for a new singer/harmonica/guitarist cause he has no confidence.

steelvox wrote:I've had more success with joining a band missing one member than forming a band from scratch. The other thing is the older you get the harder it is to find musicians your own age. A lot of people just give up. My advice would be keep things moving forward even without all the pieces in place. If you can get things done with out depending on other people then eventually you'll reach a point where they need you. Best of Luck. Metalvox

That is a good quote at the end of your post, Steelvox. Nothing worse than becoming a "Frustrated Musician" But easy to fall into. Has happend more than once with me. But hopefully, We mature & progress as we become older. Nothing easy about dealing with different personalitys & opinions. I am real lucky in that catagory at the present time. We all mainly just do our job, & stay in focus. It has to be Fun. Not to serious. With a cover band anyway?

Yep People can be strange.. Our Lead singer very talented. wants to sit at home and drink himself into a stupor. Scared stiff at getting out and playing live, New Venues send him into willie land. wants to quit cause he does't think its something that's respectable. Man after 6 years of this I gotta go look for a new singer/harmonica/guitarist cause he has no confidence. Don't mean to sound spitful. The Guy is a great guy and one I'm proud to have played with. It just seems to be such a wast of ability. I hope he doesn't self destruct. Sometimes you need a little ego to give and edge as long as it does'nt overpower everone in the band.

It's much more difficult to form a band these days than it was, say, back when I started playing out in the mid '70s. There are probably a lot of reasons for that; among them -

* The advent of computer based recording systems, allowing for "one person acts"

* The de-monopolization of the AOR (album oriented rock) paradigm, where the only way to get recorded and sold was to be "signed" by one of the handful of large recording outfits (Geffen, CBS, etc) Back in those days the emphasis of those companies was to sign bands, not individuals. Hence the pressure was on musicians to form and stick to bands as the best chance to make a go of their careers.

* The massive profusion of new genres, which fragment or disintegrate the reason for band cohesion. The new emphasis is on coming up with your own mix of your own material or someone else's so you can label it.

* A real lessening of some old fashioned values when it comes to working with people, like commitment, concensus, compromise and following through on the commitments you make.

* On a wider more socio-psychological level, a gradual disintegration of our sense of community. We're slowly becoming a nation of individual gated communities.

I'm sure there are more, but I have found those to be the preeminent reasons for the change in the band energy over time. I have been trying for almost half a year to put together a performance ensemble and at this point, all I have is 3/4 of the string section...I'm still missing the percussionist and vocalist I'm seeking. Granted, the type of act I'm putting together is highly unique and that creates its own problems, but the issues you all bring up are still there.

So what do you do? I have found that I cannot just put everything on hold for this band formation. I have to continue on in my solo projects at the same time. I have to budget my schedule and make sure that I dont waste my own time and resources too much on people who may or may not commit or perform to muster. Multitask! That way you stay in the swim and won't wake up one day with time you'll never get back, after having been disappointed by yet another band venture.

Yup, I totally see all your point of view, and your advices is well out said, brought my spirit up. I was at the point of saying maybe being in a band is not for me and almost gave up to go to college. Then I thought hey I'm still young maybe one more try wont hurt (I'm not even the age to drink lol) So now I have to see what happens. Like your guys say every bands have their dispute, one just have to know not to give up. ^.^

Ive been in 5 bands and most times they fall apart because my drive to succeed pushes them away. One called "divineasylum" was almost signed to windup when we got word of the contracts being drawn scott stapp went into rehab and they stopped all new signings saying "they wanted to develop the talent they currently had. Either way i enlisted in the army to support my new family (my daughter was born a week after i got out of basic training) and now im staring down the barrel of this monkey F**k almost being over. so yeah its hard forming a band cause you all have to have the same goal and chemistry to make any real music worth listening to.

Been in bands for 25 years. Seems like the last five years things have gotten harder for peope to make ends meet. Everyone I know seems to be working more and more, less time to rehearse and get a band together. Seems like when you finally get something together somebody has to quit, and you're back to where you started from. The current group I'm in (fisherman bob & The Bluefn Tuna Band) finally got to a studio and put together a solid demo CD. Hopefully we'll start getting some jobs, the place where we were playing just went out of business because the city started a smoking ban in all public places (including bars). There's also too many bands trying to gig in far too few places. Bandmembers get frustrated when there's too few jobs. Forming a band is HARD, but keeping one together is even HARDER. I'm going to keep trying because I love playing music. Later...fisherman bob

fisherman bob & The Bluefn Tuna Band? if youre looking to become anymore than a cover band you might want to reconsider the name cause the only bands i can think of with names that long are adult progressive like string cheeze incident or honest bob and the factory to dealer incentives which is on guitar hero....